The self-declared autonomous region of Puntland, northeastern Somalia, on Tuesday embarked on its first ever disarmament, demobilisation and reintegration (DDR) programme designed to reduce the number of its military personnel, officials said. The DDR intitiative, which is supported by the UN Development Programme (UNDP), is expected to cut the number of Puntland's security forces by 1,000 by the middle of 2006 and save funds to finance development projects.